Back on the Saddle
by BobbyisYoda
Summary: 3 years after Season 8. Jack has returned to help Chloe after Morris and her get a divorce. Meanwhile, terrorists are planning to attack Seattle, the exact location where Jack and Chloe are now.
1. Chapter 1: 1PM - 2PM

After the events of Season 8 in New York City, Jack Bauer has gone dark, President Taylor has resigned, and Chloe, after being arrested for aiding in Jack's escape, has been given a Presidential Pardon by now President Greg Andrews after she served for just over one year in prison. President Logan survived his suicide attempt but died two weeks later in the hospital.

It is now three years later. Jack has been hiding out under the false identity "Richard 'Rick' Thomas" in Vancouver, Canada.

A mysterious letter came in the mail, addressed to Rick Thomas from "an old friend". The moment Jack saw it he knew that it could have only come from Chloe. It read:

_Jack,_

_It's been three years since I last saw you and I need your help. Morris divorced me and has custody over Prescott. I've been trying to get my life together but nothing has been working. I know I'm not supposed to contact you but this you're the only person who I know will help me. Please, Jack. I'm living in Seattle with my mother. Please, Jack. I need your help._

_Love,_

_Chloe_

Jack didn't take any time to think before he decided to help her.

Meanwhile, a new terrorist organization has sprung up and has been making threats to attack cities in the US. They haven't done anything but make threats, but those threats are very, very real.

* * *

**The following takes place between 1PM and 2PM.**

**1:00PM **

Sea-Tac International Airport. A man wearing a dark brown jacket and sunglasses puts up his hand to hail a cab. This man is none other than Jack Bauer. The closest cab immediately pulls up next to him. Jack opens the door and gets in.

"Where to?" asks the driver.

"Woodland Park Zoo. Do you know where that is?" Jack replies. Woodland Park Zoo is north of the downtown part of Seattle, while the airport is south of the city.

"Oh, yes, sir. I know it," the driver states. He begins to pull out and into traffic. "Where did you fly in from?"

"Vancouver." Jack replies as he looks out the window.

"Are you Canadian? Visiting here in the US?"

"Actually," Jack says as he looks at the driver and takes off his sunglasses. "I'm an American, but I've been living in Canada for a few years now. I just came down to visit an old friend."

"Well I hope you have a nice reunion with your friend." The driver happily says.

"I hope so as well."

The driver makes a left turn to get on the access road to head north. Jack opens his bag and gets out the letter that Chloe sent him. He looks at the address one more time. It was sent from a home on 62nd Street in Phinney Ridge. The Woodland Park Zoo is close enough for Jack to walk when he gets there.

**1:02 PM**

Meanwhile, in Washington D.C., President Andrews, in the Oval Office, is on a phone call with Washington Governor Christopher Stuart. They are discussing the terrorist group's newest video to hit the Internet, claiming that there would be a terrorist attack on the West Coast.

"Now listen," President Andrews stated, "I know they haven't actually done anything yet, but that doesn't mean that an attack won't happen."

"I know Mr. President," Governor Stuart replied, "but if such an attack is to take place, the chances of it being here are minimal."

"Governor, we know that the most likely chance for an attack would be in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Portland, or Seattle."

"Yes, sir, that's why I have a plan and I'd like to receive your approval," the Governor states.

President Andrews looks at his staff for a moment before answering.

"Ok, Governor, what's your plan?" the President asks.

"Well, I've decided not to cancel this year's state fair."

"Chris, don't you think that would make for a big target?"

"It's a chance I'm willing to take. We'll have extra added security. Thousands of people go every year and canceling it would definitely be a bad idea."

The President looks at his Chief of Staff, Mike Walters, who shrugs and looks away.

"Governor," the president replies. "It's your state to do with what you wish. But know the threat is real. Don't put any innocent lives in danger."

"Yes, sir," the Governor says as he hangs up.

Mike Walters says to the President, "Don't you think that is a terrible idea, Mr. President, for him to not cancel the fair? I mean, don't you think that's where the terrorists might want to hit?"

"Yes, Mike, I do."

"So what is your plan, sir?"

"Well, if these people plan to bomb our cities and they chose Seattle then we might be able to catch them in the act. There's only a slim chance, but there's still a chance."

President Andrews goes behind his desk and sits down. Mike stands in front of it as the President signals for all others to leave the room.

"Listen, Mike, keep this a secret, but I don't want anything to get out. I want you to write a statement for me in the case that Seattle does get hit. I want to be ready just in case something happens."

"Yes, sir," Mike replies as he exits the room.

**1:09PM**

The terrorist group, known simply as Greenfire, is in a warehouse. They have a table stocked with dozens of assault rifles, grenades, explosives, RPG's, and body armor. Parked next to the table are three white SUVs with armored plates attached to the sides and painted white to match the color of the vans. Their leader, Liam Cramer, is putting on a bulletproof vest as he steps up on a small platform to look at his roughly three dozen men.

"Gentlemen, today is the day," Liam states. "We've been planning for months and the world is plenty confused. At this point they believe we're the boy who cried wolf. But finally, now that they no longer take us seriously, we can strike and have the hit be the hardest." He picks up a rifle and points it in the air. "Thank you, men, for what you're about to do. You all have your assignments. Do not be late to where you're supposed to be. Your watches have all been synchronized so you can start at your specific times."

Behind him is a wall with three different pictures and maps relative to each person. These are the points that will be attacked.

"Men, we move out in half an hour. Be ready. Eyes open."

**1:17PM**

The taxi driver is getting closer to the Woodland Park Zoo. Jack can see a sign that states they're only one mile from the zoo. Jack begins to get anxious. He knows it's been three years since he's seen Chloe but unlike past times when Jack has gone dark, the first contact that he got was this letter. Jack doesn't even know how she was able to track him down. If she could do it then theoretically anybody with the willpower could hunt him down.

"Not much farther now, sir," the taxi driver tells Jack.

"Thank you. When we get there you can let me off right in front."

"As you wish, sir."

Another sign. Half a mile now. Jack remembers the last phone call he had with Chloe in New York when he thanked her for all she's done for him. He's not sure exactly how he'll act when he sees her, but he knows that whatever happens will happen.

As the taxi pulls up to the zoo entrance, people and children are running around and happy. Jack can't help but give a smirk at seeing their cheerfulness. When the cab stops, before the driver even asks, Jack hands him a $100 bill.

"Keep the change." Jack says.

"Thank, you, sir. Have a wonderful day!" the driver replies. He then drives off away from the zoo, leaving Jack there by the curb with people all around.

Putting his sunglasses back on, Jack one more time looks at the letter he received from Chloe. He notices a street sign and knows he has to walk north for a few blocks to get to Chloe's mother's house.

**1:22 PM**

Governor Stuart's limo is driving on the highway after leaving the capitol building in Olympia. The Governor is in the back of the limo along with his wife and daughter. His wife, Jenny, is wearing a pink top and black knee-length skirt. Their daughter, Caitlyn, is wearing a blue vest and also a knee-length skirt, although hers is white.

The window to the front of the limo slides down. In the passenger's seat is the Governor's assistant, Ron Daniels.

"Governor Stuart," Ron asks, "we're expecting more traffic than usual for tonight's ceremony. We might be late getting to the fair."

"How far out are we?" the Governor replies.

"Just over an hour, sir. Would you like us to get a police escort so we can get there faster?"

"No, thank you, Ron. We have time to spare. The ceremony doesn't start until three so there'll be no need for a police escort."

"As you wish, Governor," Ron says. He then puts the dividing window back up.

"Dad," Caitlyn asks, "What should me and mom do during the ceremony."

"You don't want to be up on stage with me?" he replies.

"Well, I mean that's how we did it last year and I felt really uncomfortable."

"What do you think, honey?" he asks to Jenny.

"I think," Jenny says and pauses for a moment. "I think that if she doesn't want to be on stage then it wouldn't be a problem if we sat near the front. Besides, the crowd will be cheering for you, not us."

The Governor smiles and looks out the window as the car begins to slow down and hit heavier traffic.

"I'm not looking for cheers, dear. I just want a fun festival."

**1:29 PM**

Jack stands outside of a small, one-story blue house. He looks both ways before approaching the house. As he stands in front of the door he takes off his sunglasses again and puts them in his bag. Jack takes a short breath before knocking on the door.

No answer.

Jack starts to get nervous. He knocks again.

Again, no answer. As Jack begins to walk away, he hears the deadbolt of the door get unlocked. He stops and turns around to see the door open and Chloe standing before him.

Neither says anything for a moment; they just look at each other.

Finally, Chloe jumps into Jack's arms.

"Jack!" Chloe yells. She closes her eyes and hugs Jack tightly.

"Hey, Chloe," Jack replies. He's trying not to show any emotion.

"I've missed you, Jack," Chloe says. She breaks the hug and wipes a small tear from her eye before talking again.

"I've missed you too."

"Well, why don't you come in? Make yourself at home." Chloe motions for Jack to come in so he does. As she closes the door behind him she looks around to make sure nobody followed him. The paranoia of working at CTU and Jack going dark after New York is still with her.

Jack sets his bag down on a table by her sofa. The house is fairly clean except for a desk and computer area which has papers all over it. Jack can't help but smile to see Chloe's past hasn't left her.

"Jack, how was your flight in?"

"It was fine."

Both seem to feel too happy to see each other that neither can come up with much of a conversation.

"Where have you been hiding before you went to Canada?" Chloe asks as she and Jack sit down on the couch.

"After I left New York I decided to hide out in the country for a while. I got a job on a farm in Kansas before heading to Denver. That's where I met with one of my old partners to get all of my official documents faked to really disappear."

"Right, you went under the name Richard Thomas… a mattress salesman who moved from Denver to Vancouver." Chloe's tone made it seem like she thought the identity was a pretty badly-faked one.

"Well that's what I went with. Everyone bought it." Jack smiled as he got the letter out of his bag. "That is, apparently I wasn't good enough for you to not track me down."

Chloe pointed at the computer on her desk. "Took me three months to do it. You covered your tracks pretty well. I wouldn't have asked you to come back if it wasn't important."

"The truth is, Chloe," Jack said, "I've been gone too long. I've looked for any excuse to come home."

"No offense, Jack, but do you really even have a place you consider to be home?"

Chloe stared at him. She knew that Jack is just as messed as she is.

"No," Jack replied. "Not since I gave up the fact that I'll likely never see Kim or my granddaughter ever again."

"I'm sorry, Jack."

"It's not your fault, Chloe."

"But I feel like it is." Chloe got up and walked over to her desk. She started picking up papers at random trying to clean it up. Jack walked up behind her.

"Chloe."

She just stood there and didn't move.

"I came here to help you." Jack stated. "We can solve my problems after we've solved yours."

He gently turned her around to look at him and hugged her again.

**1:40 PM**

The Greenfire Terrorists' leader, Liam, is riding in the passenger's seat of a van. He has an earpiece on and is talking to a few of his men.

"Listen up. There's no turning back now. You each have your plans and I know you'll follow through. The moment that you've started your task you need to let the others know so they'll keep to the schedule. If anything happens unexpectedly then you know what to do."

He takes out a paper with a blueprint on it.

"Team A, the ceremony starts in just over an hour. I want you to wait until the Governor starts speaking, and then you do it. Do not do it until he begins, even if he's on the platform. I want to make sure TV cameras are on him. This needs to go public. We need to show the world that we mean business."

**1:45 PM**

Jack and Chloe are still talking in the living room but it appears that they've calmed down from earlier.

"How is your mother doing?" Jack asks.

"Not that well. Her dementia is really settling in. Half the time she doesn't even know what's going on."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"She spends most of the day sleeping and whenever she gets up its just to eat or use the bathroom. She fell a few days ago so I've been monitoring her more than usual."

"Have your thought of maybe hiring a caretaker?" Jack asks her.

"No," she replies. "I can't afford one. If Morris was here then maybe I could, but not anymore."

"If you don't mind me asking, Chloe, how have you been maintaining a living?"

"I had about $200,000 saved up over a few bank accounts, but it's almost halfway gone in just a year."

Jack takes out his wallet. Chloe pushes it back at him.

"Jack," she says, "I don't want any of your money."

"You need it more than I do."

"Jack, we've done a lot to help each other out over the years but nothing financially."

Jack tries to cheer her up with a smile as he says, "There's a first for everything."

Chloe does respond with a smile, so Jack knows he must have said something right.

"If you don't mind, Chloe, but I've been flying this morning. Do you mind if I take a shower?"

"Of course not. The bathroom is down the hall and to the right."

"Thank you." Jack gets up and walks into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

**1:52 PM**

President Andrews is sitting at his desk reading a document. There's a knock at the door and Mike walks in.

"Mr. President," Mike says, "I've completed that draft you asked me to write."

"Thank you, Mike." President Andrews stand up and takes the paper from Mike.

Mike points to the main body paragraph. "I left it generally vague so that if something happens then we can specify certain sections to fit the reality."

"Mike, do you happen to know how many people are expected to be at the opening ceremony?"

"On the Internet it said anywhere between ten and fifteen thousand."

The President stops reading and looks at Mike. "That many?" he asks.

"Yes, sir." Mike replies. "But again, we don't know what the terrorists are planning, if they even decide to strike at all.

"Have Governor Stuart arrived at the fair yet?"

"Last I heard he was en route. He'll probably get there in about a half an hour or so."

"Thank you, Mike," the President says. "Let me know the moment he arrives. I want to let him know this. He probably already knows, but just to reiterate the fact."

"Yes, sir."

**1:58 PM**

Jack is taking a shower in the bathroom. He sees there are many female hair products around. The walls are all a light pink color, giving off a very feminine feel to the room. A typical women's bathroom, he thinks. The cold water runs down his back and scars. His entire body is a record of what it takes to protect the country. So many times he's been beaten, tortured, cut, and shot, that sometimes you don't know where one scar begins and the other ends. He feels the one bullet hole in his upper chest where Chloe had to shoot him in New York. Not many people can have that close of a friendship where one can tell another to shoot them and then they do it, but still staying extremely close and never even having to bring it up, but just pretending like it never happened.

Jack feels like this is his chance to get his life back that he's been missing for the past three years. Chloe feels like with Jack being there her life will get better as well.

**2:00 PM**

* * *

Thank you for reading my first chapter! It's been years (literally about 5) since I've done anything with Fanfiction. I have this story planned out so it should go smoothly!


	2. Chapter 2: 2PM-3PM

Previously on "24: Back on the Saddle":

Jack Bauer has come to visit Chloe because she asked for his help after a messy divorce with Morris.

Washington Governor Stuart and his family are on their way to the Washington State Fair for its opening ceremony.

President Greg Andrews believes that terrorists will attack the fair, but is letting the situation pan out before taking any preemptive action.

The terrorist group Greenfire isn't being taken seriously by the world, so they're planning to attack during the 3PM opening ceremony of the fair to show the world they mean business.

* * *

**The flowing takes place between 2PM and 3PM.**

**2:00PM**

Chloe O'Brien is on her computer going through old files that are no longer needed. She has three two-terabyte hard drives sitting on the desk next to a messy stack of papers. Part of the paranoia that has hit her has led her to save everything that she does. After working at CTU for a large portion of her life, nothing passes her bye when it comes to computers. She never knows when something may be needed. After all, she did find Jack after years of not speaking, not knowing where he was, and the fact that he changed his identity.

She stares at the mess of papers covering most of the desk. At CTU she was never this messy. She picks up the cluster and starts to walk to the trashcan when something catches her eye. Under the stack was a picture frame that had been placed down so that the picture was hidden. Lifting it up, she saw an old family picture of herself, Morris, and Prescott. All she could do now was close her eyes and take a minute to catch her breath.

**2:03PM**

Governor Stuart's limo and caravan are still driving down the highway, although there is still heavy traffic. Anybody driving by the limo would never know the Governor of the State was there next to them.

"Dad?" Caitlyn asked.

"Yes, dear?" her father answered.

"How much longer until we get there?"

"I'm guessing about twenty minutes or so."

"Do you think that the booths will be open yet?"

"They probably won't be but you can check."

"I want to get cotton candy," she said. "A big old cotton candy roll."

Her father just smiles at her. She may only be sixteen but she definitely still has those little kid tendencies.

"Caitlyn," he says, "if that's what you want then go right ahead and get one. Just don't eat too much sugar."

"I won't dad." She answers. Caitlyn takes out her cellphone and starts to text her friends.

And just like that, he sees her in her own world, switching from little kid to growing young adult. For him, it's nice to have peaceful moments as a family without the entire ruckus of being Governor.

He looks out the window and sees Mt. Rainier in the distance with a clear sky above it. That could only mean that the skies would be clear for the opening ceremony and opening night.

**2:07PM**

The vans that Liam and the members of Greenfire are driving in are also coincidentally stuck in traffic as well, but they're on a different highway. It's just one of those busy days. Liam is reading over a paper when he gets a call from one of his crewmembers, nicknamed "Bird".

Bird and another man are at the fairgrounds waiting in a van, looking at a police officer in the rearview mirror.

"Sir, come in," Bird says.

"Yes, Bird, what's wrong?" Liam asks.

"We're in position at the fair. Just checking in. We're a go for step one." Bird says.

"Copy that, Bird," Liam responds. "Make us proud."

Bird nods at his partner in the seat next to him. They get out of the car and quietly walk up behind the cop who is standing on guard by a stage member changing room. The cop sees them and knows they seem out of place.

"Is something wrong, gentlemen?" the cop asks.

"Yes," Bird answers. He points at his partner who is holding his stomach and bending over, pretending to be sick. "My friend is sick. Is there a bathroom he can go in?"

"I'm sorry about your friend, sir," the cop answers, "but he'll need to go to the public restroom on the other side of the fairgrounds. This is a private room. I can't let you in."

"Please, officer, he only needs some wet paper towels to wash up. Please, officer. It'll only be a minute."

The officer looks at the bent-over man.

"Alright, but stay out here. Don't come inside." The officer then opens the door and starts to go in.

Bird looks at his partner and nods again. They walk into the changing room. The cop sees them.

"What the hell are you doing? I said to stay out-" He is cut off when Bird charges at him and pins him against a wall.

They begin to fight and punch each other but the police officer is overwhelmed by the two attackers. Bird's partner pulls out a knife and holds it against the throat of the cop.

"Don't move," his partner says. "If you do I will kill you."

The cop is visibly scared now and is bleeding from his nose.

"What do you want me to do?" the cop asks.

"Take off your uniform and give it to me. Gun and badge included."

The officer steps back and starts to unbutton his shirt.

**2:14PM**

Jack Bauer has finished his shower and is looking at himself in the mirror. Something about him looks different. He looks older. His bag is sitting next to him on the floor and he already took out an extra shirt and change of clothes.

The shower has woken him up and he is less tired than before. Chloe is still on her computer by the time Jack comes out of the bathroom wearing clean clothes.

"Chloe," he says.

"Yes?" she answers without looking back at him.

"Want to get some lunch? There's a little café next to the zoo that I saw when I walked by."

"Sure," she says as she turns around. "Let me just say goodbye to my mother."

Chloe walks upstairs and stands in front of a closed door. After knocking quietly a few times she sees her mother sitting in a chair watching TV with a very faint sound that can barely be heard even by a person with good hearing.

"Hey, mom," Chloe says to her. "I'm going to get lunch. Be safe."

Her mom just sits there. Chloe doesn't even know if she heard her. It's a sad thing when people you grow up with and love can't show anything because of sickness or of age. It seems like part of them is missing.

Chloe has her black purse with her when she comes down. Jack is patiently waiting downstairs for her.

"Ready to go?" he asks.

Chloe nods "yes" in response.

"How did it go?" he asks her.

"I'll tell you later."

Jack knows after her answer that bringing up her mother is probably a subject best suited for another time.

**2:22PM**

The Governor's limo pulls into the fairgrounds at the same time that Bird walks out of the changing room dressed as the cop that they stole the uniform from. Bird's partner walks out after him, still holding his knife. Blood is dripping from it and some is splattered on his shirt. There wasn't any blood on it yet when the cop was removing his uniform.

"Come on, man," Bird says as he wipes the blood splatter from his partner's shirt. "Try not to be too messy or people are going to suspect something."

"My apologies, Bird," he says.

Bird walks away and his partner walks back to the van.

Meanwhile, Governor Stuart gets out of his limo and one of his bodyguards walks up to him.

"Sir," the bodyguard says. "This way please." The man waves for the Governor to follow him so he does, with his family and Ron behind him.

Ron walks ahead to stand next to him.

"Yes, Ron," he says to him.

"The fair master's name is Carl Roves. Just thought you'd like to know."

"Thank you."

They open a door to a changing room similar to the one that Bird was in, but this one is bigger and cleaner, obviously meant for a VIP and not just one of the stage people. Jenny and Caitlyn both sat down on the couch while Ron and Governor Stuart continued to talk about the day's plans for after his speech.

"I'd like to speak with Mr. Roves," the Governor tells Ron.

"Right away, sir." He replies. Ron then leaves the Governor and his family in the changing room as he goes to get Carl Roves.

The Governor sits down on a couch adjacent to the one his family is sitting on.

"Chris," Jenny asks. "Do you need to go over your speech at all before the ceremony?"

He responds by taking a folded piece of paper out of his coat.

"Ah, yes. Might help a bit," he playfully says. The speech is only two pages long so it can't take him longer than a few minutes to open the fair. It covers the basics: "Thank you all for coming," "It's a pleasure to be here with you," "I hope the fair goes smoothly," "etc."

Caitlyn is still on her phone texting. Jenny has pulled out a small book form her purse. The Governor is reading over his speech.

There is a knock on the door. The Governor gets up to open it and Ron is standing there with Carl Roves, the fair master.

"Ah, Mr. Roves!" the Governor says as he motions for the men to come in, and they do. He extends his hand and shakes Carl's.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Governor." Carl says. "I was told you wanted to speak with me?"

"Yes, I wanted to ask you a few questions about security in light of the terrorist threat."

"Yes, sir. We've added extra security as you asked for an hour ago. We have extra police at the entrances and I've taken the liberty of having some of our local police walk around the fair in civilian clothes, just to make sure."

"Excellent," the Governor replies. "Very good. The President is keeping an eye on the fair, he believes it is a likely target. While I tend to disagree, we can't be too careful."

**2:30PM**

Jack and Chloe arrive at the café next to the zoo. It is a small Mexican food restaurant with small outside tables. Jack sets his bag on the ground next to him and Chloe puts her black purse on the table next to her.

"This place is nice," Jack says, trying to brighten the mood.

"I haven't been here in quite a while," Chloe says. "Not since before Morris and I got divorced."

Jack knows that this meal is a good opportunity to talk about that.

"I hope we can discuss that, Chloe. Over lunch, I mean."

"That's probably a good idea, Jack."

The waitress walks up to them with menus in her hands.

"Here you go," she says, handing them the menus. "Our specials today are enchiladas and bean burritos."

"Thank you." Jack says. The waitress walks away.

After taking only one look at the menu Chloe puts it down and knows what she wants. Jack spends a few moments looking it over before deciding.

"I'm just going to get the enchiladas." Jack tells Chloe.

"Me too."

**2:34PM**

Carl Roves is walking to the main stage after finishing talking to Governor Stuart. Beside him is a man who is in charge of making sure the microphones work correctly. People are starting to find their seats in the crowd, and there are around one thousand people already waiting, with more and more to come as the ceremony starts in twenty-five minutes.

"Mr. Roves," the man asks. "We're having trouble with the speakers on the right side of the platform. They keep bugging out."

"How much of a difference will it make?" Carl asks.

The man points at a speaker on the stage.

"I can't guarantee that one will work, sir."

"Is there any way to fix it?" Carl asks again. He's noticeably concerned that this issue can't be fixed, but also seems to be giving off the impression that he doesn't really care. With close to ten thousand people expected to be in attendance, the Governor of the State giving the opening speech, and a terrorist threat that could strike at any place at any time, he has much bigger things to worry about than just a single speaker system not working.

"Not in the next half hour, Mr. Roves." The man replies. He seems nervous as if he's screwed up in some way.

"Then, my friend," Carl says, "Don't worry about it. We'll make due. Just try and make sure the other ones keep working like normal."

"Yes, sir," he says before walking off.

**2:36PM**

Jack and Chloe both ordered water to drink and they've received them. The waitress walks up to them with chips and salsa, as most Mexican restaurants do.

"Are you ready for me to take your orders?" She asks.

"Yes," Jack says. "I'd like your enchiladas."

"The 'special of the day' enchiladas?"

"Yes, please." He says, handing her the menu.

"And, you, ma'am?" the waitress asks to Chloe.

"The same," Chloe answers, handing the waitress her menu as well.

"Okay, so two enchilada meals. I'll have them out ASAP." The waitress smiles at them and walks away.

Once she's gone there is a small silence between the two. Jack then decided to go for the reason he came to visit Chloe in the first place.

"So, Chloe, what happened between you and Morris?"

Chloe knows now is the time to talk about it, but still feels nervous.

"Well, after I was pardoned by President Andrews per request of President Taylor when she resigned I came home and Morris seemed different. He didn't want to talk to me much. Every time I tried to talk to him he would make excuses and ignore me. Well, a few weeks later I sent my son to a friend's house so that Morris and I could talk. He said that he didn't want to be with me because he felt like I abandoned him. I told him that nothing was my fault and that he's just taking it too far."

"Is that when he said that he wanted to get a divorce?"

"No, it was about a week later when he came and told me. I didn't know how to react at first but then the worst thing happened a few days after that."

"What was it?"

"He took Prescott."

"What do you mean by 'took'?"

"I mean he actually grabbed him, threw a suitcase in the car, and then left."

A tear falls form Chloe's right eye. She sniffles and tries not to cry.

"I can't believe Morris would actually do something like that." Jack says.

Chloe can barely speak at this point. The emotion is coming back to her and she can no longer hold it in.

"I… I, um…" Chloe tries to say.

"It's okay, Chloe. Just take a deep breath."

She does and catches her breath. It already helps.

"At that point I went ahead and signed the divorce papers. When they were deciding custody the judge ruled that I wasn't a good influence on Prescott."

"That's unbelievable. You're the best mother I know. That judge was obviously wrong."

"Well it doesn't make any difference now, does it? Morris has Prescott and I'm back living with my mother. I've been living with her for about a year now and I just want to see my son again. You're the only one I could turn to who would for sure help me, even if you were risking everything by coming back to the states."

"Chloe," Jack says, putting his hand over hers on the table. "You've been the only person who's held my back this entire time. I still owe you everything. You've done way more for me than I could ever ask for. I've been on the run for so long that I don't even care now if something happens."

"Speaking of that, Jack, how long were you planning to stay?"

"As long as I need to in order to help you."

**2:40PM**

The ceremony starts in twenty minutes. The crowd has nearly tripled in size since Carl Roves last spoke to the man fixing the speakers. Nobody is on stage yet except for the people making last-minute adjustments to the chairs and cords. A woman up there taps on the main podium microphone and hears the bumping sound echo throughout the crowd, knowing it works. However, when she looks to the left the man who spoke to Carl earlier is standing next to the speaker on the right, the one that stopped working suddenly, and is giving a thumbs down, indicating that the speaker still isn't working.

"Cut it!" the woman on the stage yells to the man next to the speaker.

Hearing her, the man next to the speaker pulls the cords out from the back of it. At this point it is too late to move the giant speaker and bring in a new one.

Back in the VIP changing room, the Governor has taken off his old tie and is holding up two new ones in front of his wife.

"The blue one," she says, pointing to the tie in his right hand. "It'll fit better with blue banners around the fair grounds."

"Blue one it is then," he replies. There is a mirror behind him that he turns around to and uses to put the tie on. His daughter is still on her phone and he can see her in the mirror. "Feeling any better, Caitlyn?" he asks.

Hearing her father's voice she immediately looks up.

"Not really. I'd still rather just sit near the front."

"Okay. I told Ron and he's making sure to have two seats reserved for the both of you."

"Thank you, dad," she says and goes right back to her phone.

The Governor finished up with his tie and turns around.

"What do you think?" he asks his family, pulling on his suit to straighten in out.

"The flag pin!" Jenny says.

"Oh, yes! Of course! Thank you, I almost forgot."

He pulls out a small American flag pin from his pocket and puts it on the suit. It's the same type that all politicians wear on their suits. Putting it on makes him stand out more as a public official.

Ron walks back into the room.

"Governor," Ron says. "I've saved the seats for your family. The ceremony starts in less than twenty minutes. Are you ready to go out?"

"Yes, just a few more minutes." The Governor says to Ron. Ron is also wearing a blue tie and the Governor notices it. "Nice tie."

"Oh," Ron replies, grabbing his tie. "Thank you, sir. My wife picked it out."

"Same here," he says with a smile.

**2:50PM**

Jack and Chloe have now received their food. The enchiladas are piled on top of two big plates, one in front of Chloe and one in front of Jack. Both have started to eat their meals, although Jack has finished significantly more of his meal than Chloe. Either she is a slow eater or something is bothering her. The latter is more likely but it is probably a mixture of both.

Behind them, inside the restaurant, there are several flat-screen TV's, each tuned into a different sports game. One has a baseball game, the other a pre-season basketball game. A third has on sports commentators talking about the upcoming football season. The last TV, the smallest one, has on the local news.

People on the news are talking about the ceremony and how they'll have live coverage of the opening ceremony.

Jack takes a spoonful of rice from hi plate and eats it. He notices Chloe's hand is shaking as she eats her food. Jack wonders whether or not he should say anything even though he knows why she's acting like this. He wonders how long he'll actually be staying with Chloe. In reality there really isn't much that he can do to help her, but he could never just abandon her, that's not like him.

**2:53 PM**

The Governor has made his way to the stage and his family has taken their seats in the front row. There are five people on stage. The Governor is sitting next to Carl Roves. Next to Carl is a man named Joe Ashford, who was the winner of a local marathon. Next to Joe is a man named Mr. Peterson, who was last school year's teacher of the year for the state of Washington Finally, the last person in the row is a man wearing an Army uniform and only one leg, losing it in Afghanistan.

They all have the look on their faces like they just want to get the thing started, even though they still have over five minutes until it starts.

The crowd is roughly at eight thousand now. The extra security that the Governor called in is comprised of ten extra police officers undercover dressed as normal people, all scattered throughout the crowd. The normal police officers are standing around the crowd also, except they're wearing their normal on-duty uniforms. The one at the front, closest to the stage, is Bird. His partner is sitting in the third row back, near the speaker that wasn't working earlier. He has his cellphone in hand, pretending to be talking on the phone to a friend.

**2:59 PM**

Carl Roves takes the podium and is ready to begin the ceremony.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen! As fair master, I'd like to personally welcome each and every one of you to this year's State Fair!"

* * *

Thank you for reading this chapter. I'd like to get them out at least once a week, maybe twice once the later hours get going. See you all next time!


	3. Chapter 3: 3PM-4PM

Previously on "24: Back on the Saddle":

Jack Bauer and Chloe O'Brien are having lunch at a Mexican food restaurant while discussing Chloe's divorce with Morris.

Washington Governor Stuart is about to give a speech at the opening ceremony of the Washington State Fair.

The terrorist group Greenfire is about to strike on the Fair during Governor Stuart's speech in order to prove the world that they are a strong force that means business.

**The following takes place between 3PM and 4PM.**

**3:00PM**

"It is my pleasure," Carl Roves shouted on the stage, "to introduce our keynote speaker this afternoon, our state Governor, Mr. Christopher Stuart!"

The crowd stood up out of their seats and erupted into a great road and clapping; Governor Stuart was a very popular man. As he stood up and shook Carl's hand a man from the Seattle Times newspaper walked in front of the podium and snapped several pictures before the two men even realized that he was there. They posed for a picture and could see all of the TV news cameras were focusing their attention to make sure they wouldn't miss the Governor's speech.

Bird is silently waiting and gives a nod to his partner in the third row.

"Thank, you, Mr. Roves," the Governor says as he takes the stage. The people quiet down for him to talk. "The real effort in putting this whole fair together came from him. Let's give Mr. Roves a round of applause."

The crowd gives a nice applause, nothing rowdy like they gave the Governor, but enough to show that they weren't faking the recognition.

"On a beautiful day like this, one can only wish to be one of two places: the beach, or the Washington State Fair!"

The crowd gives another loud roar for him. It's almost as if every time he opens his mouth people get their hands ready to clap.

"It's an honor to be with you all here today. My family took me here every year since I was ten, and I've brought my family here with me every year since we got married twenty five years ago. For those young couples out there with babies, trust me, I know how you feel with a toddler in a crowded place like this. Luckily for us they grow up and get better at winning the prizes so you don't spend as much money."

The crowd laughs. Even Caitlyn gives a small chuckle knowing the joke and story were about her.

Bird's partner looks at Bird one more time. The second nod from Bird gives his partner the go ahead.

"But I know that you all want to enjoy the hours upon house eating cotton candy and riding on the Ferris wheel, so I won't keep you too much longer. But it is my pleasure to introduce to you one of our special guests." He gestures to the one-legged soldier to come to the podium, and he does, walking with a pair of crutches that were sitting beside his chair. "This is Private Jacob Weiss. He joined the Army at eighteen and was send to Afghanistan at twenty. He served this country faithfully and helped protect us from those who wish to do us harm. I'd like to personally shake your hand, sir, and thank you for all you've given for us. Thank you."

The Governor shakes his hand and the man from the newspaper runs up and quickly takes their picture.

What happens next throws the two apart from one another, but in the same general direction. A large explosion from below the platform sends flames and debris everywhere. The fireball engulfs all those who were sitting on the stage. Governor Stuart flew backwards into the crowd. Thousands of people started to scream and panic. The crowd as a whole looked like cockroaches when the lights are tuned on. People began to push each other over and trample one another.

The marathon winner on the stage was able to try and run away after the fireball, but nearly his entire body was on fire and he tripped and fell down, not being able to move due to the burns.

Both Carl and the teacher, Mr. Peterson, were both killed instantly when the bomb went off.

Private Weiss also survived, but he began to crawl away, with burns and bleeding all over his body.

The only person on the stage not to die or be critically wounded was Governor Stuart himself. Most of the blast was behind Private Weiss, who took most of the impact from hitting the Governor.

Jenny ran away, covering her daughter's head as they left when suddenly Caitlyn pushed away and ran towards the stage.

"I've got to go save dad!" she yelled.

"No!" her mom answered. "Come back! It's not safe!"

She began to run after her daughter, fighting against the crowd that was still trying to leave the area.

The police that were standing to make sure nothing bad happened, after getting their bearings, started to help people that were falling down.

The chaos ensued at Bird's partner ran in front of the remains of the stage and pulled out a pistol and started shooting into the running crowd. Several people dropped as the bullets hit them. Most people were panicking too much to realize that they were being shot at.

By the time most of the crowd left, the only living people near the stage were the Governor, Bird's partner, Bird, the Governor's family, and several other cops.

Bird's partner shot the first cop to come and try to stop him, but not before a second cop shot Bird's partner in the back, causing him to fall over dead. Bird himself saw this and ran to the Governor's rescue, pretending to be a real police officer.

"Please get back ma'am," Bird said to Caitlyn as she moved a body from on top of her father.

"He's my father I'm not leaving him!"

Jenny grabbed her daughter and pulled her back. Caitlyn hugged her mother and cried. Jenny just looked at the police officer who was checking the Governor's pulse. Bird decided to keep his cover for now and not try anything until after things had settled down.

"Is he alive, officer?" Jenny asked Bird.

"Yes, ma'am. Just unconscious."

**3:09PM**

In an almost completely different atmosphere, people are smiling, laughing, and enjoying the company of one another not twenty miles away from a scene of death.

Jack and Chloe were both finishing up their meals when they saw people were all looking towards the TV's inside. They got up and walked in there to see what was happening.

The "Breaking News" logo appeared onscreen and the TV news anchor from the local station covering the Fair jumped in.

"We have some terrible breaking news coming from the opening ceremony of the Washington State Fair." The video that the TV crews caught started to play. Very clearly the bomb could be seen exploding under the stage and people began to run. "An explosion went off on stage during Governor Stuart's speech. First reports from police are at least a dozen dead from the blast and injuries. We don't yet have any details as to what exactly caused the blast but information is coming in and we will report it to you as soon as we get it."

The video looped again. All the people in the restaurant were standing at shock from what they were hearing. Several people grabbed their purses and families and began to leave the restaurant. They got the smart idea to get out of town quickly just in case.

Jack looked at Chloe and she looked back at him. She knew what look he was giving her. They knew what to do but they were in a terrible position to help. Chloe did not have CTU to find out who was behind this and technically Jack was still a wanted fugitive. But inside, they knew this was more important. For the past fifteen years Jack Bauer has been the solution to nearly every terrorism problem that has faced the country. Abandoning is conscience and duty was not something that Jack could do. Turning his back ok the slaughter of innocent civilians was not morally right and both Jack and Chloe knew it.

"Is your cell phone charged, Jack?" Chloe asked him?

"Yes." He answered.

They looked at each other one more time. This time they accepted the fact of what needed to be done, and walked out of the restaurant and went back towards Chloe's house.

**3:12PM**

Liam was sitting in his van, listening to his walkie-talkie. The voice on the other end was mumbled, but it was one of the members of their group.

"Bird's partner is dead," the voice told Liam.

"Dammit." He answered. "What about Bird?"

"He told me he's keeping his cover for now."

"Good. Keep me posted."

"Will do, sir."

Liam looked at the driver of the van and then at the three men in the back of the van with assault rifles, bulletproof vests, and full-body military-grade gear. They looked like they were ready to go to war and win.

"Gentlemen," Liam told them. "I hope you're ready for these people to know that no place is safe."

Liam pointed straight ahead and the driver began to go. They were planning to hit a second target after just hitting the first one. Attacking with a one-two punch is known to cripple the enemy. The van pulled out of the alley that it was parked in and made a left turn. Traffic was quite busy as people were already starting to go home based on the news of the bombing of the fair. The driver of the van seemed annoyed that they couldn't speed around the rest of the cars on the road.

"Don't worry," Liam told the driver. "If we're a few minutes off it won't make much of a difference. We stick to the plan. And that goes for you all, too," he said as he looked at the men in the back of the van.

**3:15 PM**

Jack and Chloe were both running as fast as they could to get back to Chloe's house. Jack seemed slightly out of shape, not like the old days of working for CTU. Barely half a mile and he was already getting slightly out of breath. Chloe never really had to stay in shape since her job always consisted of sitting at a computer.

As they got to the front door a few minutes later, Chloe immediately used her key and they ran inside. The swift motion she took to get her key out, put it in the lock, turn it, open the door, and run in made it seem like she'd practiced it multiple times. Jack even moved swiftly with her. It's almost as if they both could see each other's next move and operate efficiently from it.

"I'll load up some old programs I downloaded from CTU," Chloe said as she sat down at the computer.

"Didn't the government wipe that stuff clean from you?"

"Not the ones that I created myself."

Jack seemed amused at Chloe's remarks. She was, in fact, the smartest women he knew.

The thumb drive Chloe put into her computer opened up a dialogue box with a password protection key. Entering it revealed a list of different encryption codes. Chloe clicked on the third one down and the box suddenly went full screen. Green, white, and yellow letters appeared on a black background.

"I haven't used this in a while, Jack. I hope it still works."

"I have faith in you, Chloe." Jack was leaning against her chair with his right hand and the desk with his left hand.

Sound started to come out of the speakers, sounding like police chatter, but very static-filled. They could barely understand a word being spoken. Instead, they cycled through different channels, mostly just people talking, nothing really significant to the bombing.

"What exactly are you listening for?" Jack asked her.

"I'm trying to see if we can find a clear channel. Police scanners will be more updated than TV news."

The police chatter was what would be expected after an event such as this – the cops were frantically trying to figure out what was happening and were almost talking over one another. Another station revealed two truck drivers talking to each other on the highway. It appeared that Chloe's program was scanning every and all radio frequencies in the area.

Neither person really cared about the state fair most of the time, Jack for sure had never even heard of it. Chloe simply did not know where it was at until one of the police frequencies revealed the hospital that they were taking the governor to, Valley General, which she knew was in the city of Monroe. The hospital itself it literally right across the street from the fairgrounds – so close that the shots fired from Bird's partner's gun could have easily hit the building.

That's when Jack got an idea.

"Do you think your scanner might be able track their frequencies?" Jack asked, referring to the terrorists.

"I suppose so, but with just my computer we'd have to get really lucky with the right frequency at the moment they were talking. It's a long shot."

"Do you have a laptop?"

"Yes, upstairs. I'll go get it." Chloe got up out of her chair and went upstairs to get her laptop computer. She knew that Jack had a plan.

Jack's plan was to make a copy of the program and have it running on a laptop to double their input. Without this there really was no way to find the terrorists.

**3:25 PM**

The hospital doors burst open as a team of doctors rolled Governor Stuart into the emergency room.

The head doctor was a woman with a nametag reading "Sarah Foster". The man next to her was named "Charlie White". Both were wearing teal-colored scrubs and had their gloves and masks on, ready to perform surgery.

The Governor's body all-in-all didn't have too much damage. The cuts and burns were all non-life-threatening. The biggest concern for the doctors was a large shard of debris sticking out of his leg and a pretty bad burn on his left arm. This was one of the less-important injuries from the fair overall, but the most important in terms of priority. Power has its perks.

By the time that they got into the emergency room several seconds later, Dr. Foster had already grabbed a scalpel and was ready to cut the shard out. She pulled on it slightly but realized it was stuck partially behind the femur and wasn't going to be coming out easily. The other two doctors in the room had put a burn wrap around his arm and were putting smaller bandages on some of his cuts. Most of them they left seeing as they were very minor and were not bleeding, almost as if they were glorified paper cuts.

Dr. Foster started to cut part of the skin on the leg, enough to wiggle the shard out. Holding it up to the light she could tell that the shard was actually a piece of wood from the stage. She put it on the table next to her and noticed that there was minimal bleeding from the cut on the leg because the shard, thankfully, did not hit and veins or arteries, just normal deep muscle tissue damage.

"I want him monitored every second," Dr. Foster said. "Let me know if anything changes."

The doctor went outside to see both Jenny and Caitlyn standing outside, waiting to hear the news.

"You husband is going to be fine, ma'am," Dr. Foster told Jenny. "We removed a large piece of wood from his leg, but the good news is that it didn't rupture any veins or arteries. He's still unconscious but I'd expect him to awaken within an hour or so."

"Thank you, Doctor." Jenny told her. Caitlyn stopped crying for a moment to smile at her mother.

**3:31 PM**

In the White House, President Andrews was writing down notes on a notepad when his Chief of Staff, Mike Walters, walked in.

"What's wrong, Mike?" The President asked him.

"Sir, you were right. Terrorists set off a bomb at the Washington State Fair."

The President quickly stood up from his chair, putting a hand on the back of his head.

"My God, Mike! Is Governor Stuart okay?"

"He was taken to the hospital and is unconscious. Last I heard his injuries were minimal. He should be fine."

The President leans against his desk.

"What about the other casualties?"

"The last report given by police was at least twenty dead and nearly one-hundred injured. Sir, there is a matter that needs discussion, though."

"You're damn right there's a matter that needs discussion!"

"Mr. President," Mike said, trying to calm him down. "You don't understand. I spoke to one of the police officers there at the fair and while they were clearing out the area they found the body of one of their men, throat slit, in a changing room. Somebody apparently stole killed him and stole his uniform."

"So you're telling me," he said, standing upright and walking towards the window. "That one of the cops there is actually one of the terrorists?"

"Yes, sir. It appears that way. Also, after the bomb went off a man pulled out a gun and shot several people while they were trying to run away. He was killed by one of Governor Stuart's policemen dressed as a civilian."

"Have they identified him yet?"

"No sir. I'll let you know the moment that they do."

"Thank you, Mike."

Mr. Walters left the Oval Office, leaving President Andrews there alone. He looked out the window, seeing the bright sunshine of the mid-September afternoon – a stark contrast to the overcast skies of Seattle. The President sat back down in his chair and leaned his head into his hands.

**3:35 PM**

Back at Chloe's house, Jack was running through stations on Chloe's laptop while she was running through stations on her own computer.

"I'm not getting anything," Jack told her.

As he was saying this Chloe put her hand up to him.

"Wait a second," she said. "I think I might have something."

Jack got up and walked back over to her.

"I heard the words 'get ready for phase two' and 'make sure to kill as many people as you can'. After that it went to static." Chloe started to click on a window to make the static try and go away.

"Could you tell who it was?" Jack asked her.

"I have no idea. I'm trying to clear up the signal."

As Chloe was clicking, more words came in over the speakers. They could hear the phrase "Yes, sir. We'll stick to the plan."

"Chloe," Jack asked. "Is there any way to find out where these signals are coming from?"

"No, all I can do is hear it."

"Dammit," Jack said. He knew that there was little they could do.

"Jack, there is one thing."

"What's that, Chloe?"

"The network scans based on the signal the computer receives.," Chloe said as she turned her chair around to face Jack. "The closer the computer is to the source of the signal the better we'll hear it."

Jack got an idea. "So if we took the laptop with us and drove around then we might get one?"

"It's worth a shot, Jack."

They looked at one another again, as they've done several times over the past few hours. They knew what to do, again. Jack went and grabbed the laptop. Chloe pushed a button to turn off her monitor. As they were about to walk out of the house, Jack stopped and though of one last thing.

"Chloe, do you have a gun?"

Washington gun laws allowed basic freedom to own firearms, but convicted criminals weren't allowed. Chloe, however, knew the places to go to get what she needed.

"I have a small revolver in my car," she told him. "You can have it if you want."

Jack knew that only six shots could not solve their problem.

"That'll have to do," Jack reluctantly said. They both then left and got into Chloe's blue Honda and started to drive.

**3:40 PM**

Liam was still sitting in the van as they both pulled up to a parking lot behind a white building.

"Gentlemen," he said to the armed men in the back. "I know we're late, but we're still on schedule. Get in position and wait for my orders. Remember, do not stop firing until there are no more targets. Good luck men. Make us proud."

They collectively gave out a "Yes, sir!"

The man closest to the back door of the van opened it up and the six men started to fall out and leave the van. Each was going to a different location surrounding their target of a large crowd of people.

It did not take them long to get to where they were going. They'd planned this out and knew exactly where to go.

**3:42 PM**

Jack was driving and Chloe had the laptop's volume turned up. They heard more words on the signal.

"One in position."

"Two in position."

Jack knew what was happening. "Oh my God. They're getting ready for a second attack."

"The signal is coming in much clearer now, Jack. We must be close."

Jack had to stop at a stoplight when it turned red. "Where are they..?" As he was looking at the computer something caught his eye. The stoplight was right in front of the Woodland Park Zoo, where he'd been let off from the taxi only two hours before. People were walking around still – families, little children. These people would not have been notified yet of the bombing at the State Fair.

"Three in position."

"Four in position."

Chloe noticed that Jack didn't move the car when the light turned green. She tapped him on the shoulder and he started to drive but stopped the car on the side of the road.

"Jack," Chloe said. "Why did you stop?"

"Look around, Chloe," he answered. "If you were going to shoot innocent people, and you said we were close to the signal, then where would you choose to do it at?"

She looked at the zoo and there were dozens of people were walking around. She knew.

"Five in position. We're ready sir." "Begin."

Jack suddenly ran out of the car towards the zoo's main building.

Chloe, from inside the car, could hear a single pop of a gun. She looked back at the crowd and the sound of automatic rifle fire began.

People began to drop all over the place, many trying to hide, others from dying. Bullets sprayed down from all over the place. Chloe could not see where the shots were coming from, but could tell it was from multiple places.

Jack hid behind a car parked on the street. All he had was Chloe's small six-shot revolver and he was pinned down. A man ran behind him and hid behind the same car.

"Oh my God! We're going to die!" The man shouted.

"No we're not. Stay with me and you'll stay alive!" Jack screamed at him.

"I've got to get out of here, man!" He yelled at Jack. The man wasn't injured but it looked like he was going into shock. He began to slightly stand up, looking like he was getting ready to run away.

"No!" Jack yelled at him. "Stay here! Don't move!" Jack was trying to keep the man from running out into the open where bullets were still being prayed.

The man suddenly got up and ran. Jack stood up and ran after him. Jack could hear bullets hitting the ground near their feet, knowing that they were not the out-in-the-open target.

A single bullet slammed into the man's let, causing him to fall down. Jack was still behind him and managed to catch him before he hit the ground. He began to drag the man as quickly as he could towards another parked car.

The bullet hit slightly above the man's knee and right on the bone. Jack could see that the leg was definitely broken so the man wasn't going anywhere. Jack thought that this was both good and bad. Bad because he's bleeding out and has a broken leg from a gunshot wound; good because the man wasn't going to be able to run away again so if Jack could find him cover then the man would likely be safe.

As Jack got the man behind the car he could hear several bullets hit the car, but none were able to come through.

Until the bullets stopped there was nothing Jack could do but wait. He took out his Bluetooth headset and called Chloe.

"Chloe, what the hell is happening?!" he yelled at her. "Can you tell where this is coming from?"

"I have no idea, Jack! Multiple places... there's a building to your north; I think I saw some flashes coming from there."

Jack looked at the building to his north. It looked like a position a gunman might use to shoot up the crowd in front of the zoo.

"Thank you, Chloe. Stay in the car!"

"I will, Jack!"

Jack hung up the call and looked at the man lying in Jack's lap.

"What's your name, sir?" Jack asked him.

"Hen-… Henry." The man said. He was definitely going into shock as far as Jack could tell.

"Listen to me, Henry. You've been shot in the leg and it's broken."

The man could only scream in reply.

When Jack looked through the window of the car he saw a man on top of a roof with a rifle reloading. He knew that there was little to no chance that he could hit the man with Chloe's pistol, but he knew he couldn't stay there forever.

**3:49 PM**

Back in the hospital, Caitlyn had stopped crying and was still leaning on her mother. Her skirt was torn and had both blood and burns on it, although she herself was fine. Her mother's clothes looked equally messy.

Doctors and hospital staff continued to walk in and out of different rooms frantically. It was only luck that an event such as this would happen literally right across the street from a hospital.

Doctor Foster came back out of the room Governor Stuart was in and sat down next the two women.

"Mrs. Stuart, I need to ask you a few questions, if that's alright with you." She said to Jenny.

"Of course," Jenny answered.

Caitlyn stopped leaning on her mother and sat upright.

"When the explosion happened, was your husband close to it?" she asked. Being a doctor and in the hospital there's no way she could have known that the Governor was right on stage when it happened.

"He was standing up there," Jenny said to Dr. Foster. "Shanking the hand of the man in the Army, and all of the sudden there was a loud boom and a large fireball coming from under the stage. My husband was thrown off and into the crowd, almost right next to us, but when people started to run away we had to keep running with the crowd."

"Thank you, ma'am. We just needed to know in case his tests come back for a concussion. We believe his head was fine but we can never be too careful."

"Thank you, Dr. Foster." Jenny said. She tried to give a smile but was unsuccessful.

Caitlyn grabbed her mother's arm and squeezed it, trying to reassure her that things were going to be alright.

**3:53 PM**

Jack was still sitting behind the car with Henry. The bullets had stopped but Jack did not want to move in case they were just waiting for more targets.

Henry was a bit better at talking now and was looking at Jack holding the revolver.

"Are you one of them?" Henry asked Jack.

"If I was would I have saved you?" Jack replied.

"Who are you then?"

"My name is Jack Bauer."

"Thank you for saving me back there."

Jack didn't want to say anything so he just nodded at the man. He continued to look around but could no longer see the man on the roof or anybody.

Apart from the forty or so bodies in the street, around a dozen or so others were hiding behind cars, trash cans, newspaper containers, and anything else that they could find cover behind.

Jack could see a man trying to crawl in the street towards the sidewalk. The man was bleeding out from his chest. Following the blood trail back, Jack could see a fairly large pool of blood where that man had been shot.

Henry saw the man crawling also, but his voice was still quivering from blood loss and shock.

"Can we save him?" Henry asked Jack.

Jack just stared straight at the crawling man when he answered Henry. "There's nothing we can do for him."

Henry closed his eyes at the answer when another loud noise forced him to re-open them and look down the street.

Three men wearing body armor, the same men from the back of Liam's van, were walking down the street towards the zoo and shooting anybody they saw that was trying to run away. When they got to the people that were hiding they pointed their guns at them and made them get up as hostages.

Jack knew what was going to happen, so he put the gun in his pants, having his belt hold it to his back. Henry saw this and also knew they were about to become hostages. The only thing going through Jack's mind at this moment was the fact that he could see Chloe sitting in her car as the men came forward towards her. He knew she would be taken hostage as well.

One man came towards Jack, Henry, and the others who were hiding behind cars and screamed at them to move. Jack had to have Henry put an arm around his shoulder so they could walk. As they were walking he saw another one of the gunmen grabbing Chloe out from her car.

When they got to the main building of the zoo, the men forced people into the lobby and made them sit in a big bunch right in the middle of the room. Chloe was at the opposite side of the group from Jack, but their eyes met and stayed locked nearly the entire time.

"Now," one of the gunmen told to the group. "If any of you try to get out of here, then that person who is trying to escape will be killed in front of the rest of you. Don't want that to happen? Stay seated. If you leave this building, we have two snipers ready to take you out." Those were the other two of the five men from Liam's van.

The man who was speaking was the tallest of the group, at least six-foot-five. He was also the only of the three to not be wearing something covering his face.

Henry was breathing fast; Jack knew the shock was settling in more now.

**3:57 PM**

The local police and medical services arrived on the scene. The hostages could see outside the building through the glass windows. Chloe wondered why the snipers weren't killing the people moving the dead bodies. Jack saw them drag the man he and Henry had seen that was crawling. He wasn't reacting at all to the EMS team moving him, so he knew that the man had died.

Henry's leg was bleeding out more, so Jack took the man's sock off and tied it around the leg to cut off the circulation.

One of the three shooters saw this and grabbed Henry from Jack.

"No!" Jack said. "I'm just trying to help him."

The tallest gunman walked over to Henry. "What's your name?"

"Henry." He answered. His voice was even more quivering than before.

"I'm trying to cut off the blood from his leg," Jack said. "Otherwise you'll have a big pool right in the middle of the room."

The tall man walked over and kneeled down in front of Jack. "When he dies, you'll be the one to clean up the pool in this room."

Henry was then thrown back onto Jack, hard enough for Jack to be knock to the side and had to push Henry's body off in order to sit back up. The force of the shoving had moved the sock and Henry was starting to bleed again.

Chloe sat across the room, along with everybody else there, watching their interactions unfold. She saw as her best friend held the head of a man he'd just met on the street, trying to save said man's life. She wondered how anybody like that could ever be labeled as a bad man and had to run from the government for the past three years.

Henry was still there and could barely speak a word. He had just enough energy left in him to smile at the man who saved him outside; the man who tied off his leg to cut what was left of the blood circulation from his leg.

The only words that could come from Henry's mouth were "Thank you," looking into Jack's eyes as his own heavy breathing slowed down into nothingness.


	4. Chapter 4: 4PM-5PM

Previously on "24: Back on the Saddle"

The terrorist group Greenfire set off a bomb during the opening ceremony of the Washington State Fair, nearly killing Governor Christopher Stuart in the process.

President Andrews has been briefed about the explosion and is debating what to do next after his instincts were proven right.

Jack Bauer and Chloe O'Brien saw the bombing on the news and decided to try and do what they can to stop the terrorists, but while following their first lead, Greenfire started to shoot up a zoo, capturing both Jack and Chloe, and holding them along with many others as hostages.

**The following takes place between 4PM and 5PM.**

**4:00PM**

Silence filled the room as Henry's life left him. Jack slowly closed the man's eyes and carefully laid his body down on the floor next to him. A woman sitting next to Jack scooted to the side to make room. Jack felt a single tear roll down his cheek and wiped it away.

Chloe herself felt like crying herself but was able to hold it back better. She couldn't even count the number of people that Jack tried to save but couldn't. It became almost like a curse to him, a curse unknown to those he wished to save.

The police officers outside had set up a perimeter and their numbers were in the several dozens. It was a tough day for them, having two major events happening relatively quickly. The head police chief of Seattle was there, Chief Rodger McNeil. He was a tall African American man with a thick, in-regulation mustache. He was about as tall as the head shooter inside the building, a perfect match.

Chief McNeil grabbed a megaphone and pointed it at the building. "This is Police Chief McNeil of the Seattle Police Department. We have the building surrounded. We ask that you speak to us, or we will be forced to use force."

Inside the building, the tall shooter listened to the words from outside. He had no way to speak with them besides opening the door, and he for sure didn't want to do that. Looking at the main desk computer, he got an idea and called 911.

**4:02 PM**

Governor Stuart was being moved to a room in the ICU area of the hospital. His family was walking by his side. An IV was attached to his arm and was dripping water at a regular pace. When they got to the his room, heart rate monitors were connected, and showed that he was at a steady 57 beats per minute, less than normal conscious people, but showing good signs.

His body looked a lot better than it did just under an hour ago – all the bleeding had stopped from his cuts, the burns were all either covered up or had medical liquids put on them to help from getting infected, and the dirt had been cleaned off.

A second doctor walked in the room with a clothes bag.

"Here are his clothes, ma'am," the doctor said to the women, handing them to Jenny.

"Thank you," she replied.

In the clothes bag was his white button-up shirt, coat, pants, shoes, socks, and tie. His tie was nearly torn in half from the rustling, confusion, and all other events that happened just about an hour ago. The suit in full looked at if it'd been purposely cut up, but it hadn't. She could very clearly on the pants see where the piece of wood from the stage had entered his leg. It had a large red blood stain around it, much like other areas on the suit had burn marks and smaller blood stains.

Governor Stuart looked peaceful lying in the hospital bed. The doctors and nurses were still finishing up connecting him to the necessary equipment when Jenny asked the head doctor in the room a question.

"When do you think he'll wake up?" She asked him.

"Well, to be honest, ma'am, could be ten minutes, could be three hours. We'll just have to wait and see." He replied, looking back at the computers with dozens of indicators of the Governor's health status.

"Thank you."

When the staff finished with the equipment, they left the room, leaving Jenny and Caitlyn alone.

"Mom," Caitlyn asked. "What do we do now?"

"Your father is going to be fine. You heard the doctor. Once he's back up on his feet he'll be back to work."

"I think we both know, mom, that nothing will ever be the same from now on."

**4:07 PM**

A police officer with a cell phone walked up to Chief McNeil, handing him it.

"He says he's the man inside," the cop told Chief McNeil.

"Thank you," he told the man. Chief McNeil walked over to his squad car and leaner on the side, looking at the zoo. "This is Chief McNeil of the Seattle Police Department. Who am I speaking to?"

The man on the other side was the tall terrorist holding people hostage. He replied with a tone of superiority.

"You can just call me Theodore."

"Alright then, Theodore," Chief replied. "Are you willing to talk negotiations?"

"I thought the United States of America doesn't negotiate with terrorists." He said, giving a huge smile to the crowd seated in front of him. Chloe looked down so as not to be seen and gave a slight smirk. Even in the eyes of an intense situation such as this she still found the subtle things like that to be humorous.

"We do with ones who just killed twenty people and have at least twenty more as hostages."

"Nineteen now."

Chief McNeil closed his eyes in disgust. Little did he know the truths behind Jack trying to save him.

"What do you want?" Chief asked him. Other police officers standing around heard this and were starting to get the idea of who their Police Chief was actually talking to.

Camera crews from TV were starting to show up by this point. Several police officers actually put bodies down to go and make sure the News Crews didn't interfere with the ongoing situation.

Theodore looked around at the hostages. He was still using the main desk's phone as his source. It was wireless, so he was able to walk around, although right now he was just leaning up against the desk.

"Chief McNeil," Theodore told him, "I think you know what I want."

Chief McNeil got a confused look on his face. "Sir, Theodore, I honestly don't know what you want. You've killed a lot of people and have hostages. What possibly could you be asking for?"

Theodore looked at the dead body of Henry and the pool of blood surrounding his leg, which Jack wasn't moving away from.

"Here's what I want," he told the cop. "I have snipers watching the area. If any sudden movements are made by you or any of your men, then the EMT's will have a lot more to clean up then just twenty civilians. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, I understand you."

"Good. Now listen to me very carefully. One of our hostages has died and is starting to make a mess of the tile floors here. I'm going to release one hostage to carry the body. Consider it a gift. That man will also be carrying further instructions on what I want. Again, if any of your men make any sudden movements until my man reaches you, then you'll have Hell to pay."

Jack looked right at Theodore this entire time. He could feel Henry's blood seeping into his own pants, but he was trying to look like the unafraid person, so he let this happen.

Theodore pointed at Jack. "Get up!" he said, and Jack did. "Congratulations, you're about to be free. Now take your friend's body and give him this." He handed Jack a piece of paper with a handwritten note on it, obviously written well before the shooting began. "Now, you give this to the policeman I was talking to and then you'll be free to go. You try to run at all, and my men will shoot you."

"I understand," Jack said. He reached down and tried to pick up the body of Henry, which unfortunately weighed lighter than before, but not by much, due to the loss of his blood. Jack was carrying the body in his arms in front of him, after all, Jack may be older and less in-shape, but the strength was still there.

He carried the body to the main front door and pushed it open by using his back. From where he was it was less than a one hundred foot walk to the police line, but to him it seemed like much more. The ground all around was covered in blood. The air smelled like it as well.

By the time Jack finally saw Chief McNeil, a swarm of EMT's came and took Henry's body from Jack's arms, leaving Jack, for a moment, standing there by himself.

"Are you alright, sir?" Chief McNeil asked Jack. "Do you need to see an ambulance?"

"No, thank you. I'm fine." After all, this wasn't the first time Jack had been shot at or in an intense situation.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir. I still have one of my friends in there and I'm not going to leave until she's safe."

Jack had made his decision now in what he was going to do. Rescuing Chloe was the only thing that mattered to him right now. He didn't care if the Feds came after him later, but right now he was going to make his decision.

"Sir," Jack told him. "There's something you need to know."

"And what is that? We need to question you."

"Chief McNeil," Jack said, remembering what Theodore had called him on the phone and also reading the man's nametag in front of him. "My name is Jack Bauer. I used to work for the government many years ago at CTU. I've been in this type of situation many times before and I'm sure I have more experience than anybody on your team."

By Chief McNeil's response, Jack could tell that he got his message across.

"Jack Bauer…" Chief McNeil said to himself. "I remember you. You were testifying at that Senate hearing about five or six years ago. Something to do with torture, I believe?"

Jack didn't want to reply after that last statement.

"Mr. Bauer, I know what you've done. But my men can handle this. I suggest you go speak with my aid, Captain Ricks. He'll debrief you right here so you don't have to go back to the station."

Jack knew something was wrong. This wasn't normal behavior. The man didn't even give him a chance to explain himself.

"Chief McNeil, I've rescued hostages before. Now you've got nineteen scared, innocent people in there being held hostage by two men with AK-47s and one man with an M9 pistol. The man you were talking to is approximately six and a half feet tall, about the same as you. He's not scared of you. I can help you rescue these people if you just let me!"

The Chief stared at Jack for a moment. He was contemplating whether or not to let Jack help the police with their mission. Jack was right; he was the only one inside who knows what the people are doing. Besides, the two snipers were still somewhere in the area.

They could see inside the building the people were still there, still scared. The gunmen had hidden by this point, or at least they couldn't be seen from the angle Jack and the Chief were standing.

"Mr. Bauer," the Chief said. "If you can guide us then I'll let you help. But understand, I don't want to be responsible for any civilian deaths. I know you're a man who can handle himself, but I know things happen and I'm the one who's in charge of safety right now. If you'd like to help us then I'll let you, but I cannot give you a weapon. I hope you understand."

"Thank you, sir. I understand," he replied. Little did they know of the small revolver in Jack's back. He knew he had to get Chloe out of there. For three years she struggled, and now not even three hours after seeing Jack again she's a hostage in a multi-regional terrorist attack.

**4:23 PM**

The President was watching CNB News and saw the headlines of the shooting in front of the zoo. Mike Walters was there with him, along with several other aides. They couldn't believe what was happening right before their eyes. Now they're dealing with a major terrorist attack and a major mass shooting not twenty miles from one another. Putting two and two together wasn't hard to do. They knew that Greenfire had to be behind this. The question now was what they wanted in return. The threats they made before were simply about causing panic, but the motive, the reason, was never specifically mentioned.

"Julie," the President told his media spokeswoman, "Tell the media people I want to make a statement on the hour."

"Yes, sir." She replied and left the Oval Office. The other members of the President's Staff stayed behind.

"The rest of you," President Andrews stated as he walked over and leaned up against his desk. "I want each of you to dig up as much information on Greenfire as you possibly can. But I don't want to cause any more of a panic than there already is. People are getting murdered in the streets and the country is going to want to catch those responsible. They warned us they were going to attack and we did nothing. Now we're suffering the consequences of our own arrogance."

The rest of the people in the room left, leaving him alone again. It's been the same way all day when people leave – he walks over to his desk and sits down. This time he stares off at the room around him and just takes it all in. He thinks of how many Presidents have sat at the same desk in the same room. He thinks of how many history-changing decisions have been made in the same room. Now it's his turn. When he goes in front of the cameras in just over half an hour, a scared country is going to want to hear words of power and encouragement, not defeat. They want to know who did this, why they did it, and how we're going to stop it. Unfortunately for him, he only knew one of the three.

**4:27 PM**

Chloe was still sitting as a hostage. She wasn't scared anymore, knowing that Jack was just outside planning to rescue her and the nineteen other people in the room. Over the years she developed from one who is nervous to one who fears little to none. The changing moment she thinks of a lot is when Edgar was killed right in front of her in CTU when the poison gas was released. She couldn't do anything except watch as he suffocated and died right there on the work floor. After that she evolved as a person, knowing that life is short and could change or end at any moment. This was a prime example – she went from eating lunch with her best friend to being a shot at and becoming a hostage in only an hour.

The tall shooter was sitting down behind the main desk and the other shooters were leaning up against opposite walls. The tall man pulled out his radio and started to talk.

"Liam, come in," he said. Chloe was just close enough to understand the words even with him trying to be quiet.

"Yes," Liam answered from the other end.

"How much longer do you want me to keep these people here?" he sounded impatient, like he had better things to do than to hold people hostage.

"We're almost done here. I can see on the news that you're now the main focus from the fair. These bastards can't even keep a story going for more than ten minutes."

The tall man, Theodore, as he told Chief McNeil, got up and began walking with his walky-talky.

"Listen," he said into the device. "There're dozens of cops out there. I don't know how much longer we can keep them believing that there's two snipers waiting to shoot anyone who moves. I'm sure they're checking all nearby buildings. They're gonna figure out, and soon."

"Are you asking me what to do?" Liam asked Theodore.

"Yes. You told us to wait for your orders and now we need them."

"Ok. Here's what you need to do. Get a message out to them that if they don't let you leave then you'll kill one of your hostages. Then to prove it, kill one of them. When the police come, escape out through the zoo. I don't care what you have to do, just get the hell out of there."

"That's your plan? Kill one person and then run away?"

"If you don't then you'll die, too. Your choice. Our side is nearly done. If you leave now you can still catch up with us at the safe house. We can update the world once we're there."

Chloe heard every word. It made sense now – no ransom demands, little talking, letting Jack go. It was all because they didn't know what to do. She thought that for as sophisticated as these people were enough to bomb the Governor and attack a zoo right afterwards, they really didn't tell the rest of the plan to their people, they're making it up as they go along.

She knew that one of the hostages was going to die but she didn't want that to be herself. The odds were against her a good nineteen to one. Jack would probably be watching and wouldn't even allow her to be touched; even if it meant running in there himself and risking getting shot by snipers that Chloe knew didn't exist.

**4:33 PM**

In the hospital room, Caitlyn noticed something as she looked at her father. His eyes were moving, but the eyelids were still closed. After a few seconds of this he blinked once.

He was awake.

Caitlyn and her mother both got up and walked over to him. He looked right at them and smiled. He knew what happened to him and he knew his family was safe.

"How long was I out?" he asked his family.

"About an hour and a half," Caitlyn answered him. "I'm so happy you're alright, daddy!"

He grunted as he tried to move himself from a laying down position to a sitting up one.

"Well," he said. "I can't feel my leg. Is it alright?"

"Yes," Jenny answered. She wanted to get her words in before her daughter took all of the loving. "The doctors found a large piece of wood was stuck in your leg. It went in pretty deep but didn't cut any major veins. A few stitches later and you were fine."

He looked at his arm which was in a sling, and then looked at her. She knew this was a look of a "How about my arm?" type of question.

"First degree burns over your arms and legs. Nothing major."

He let out a slight sigh of relief. Then it hit him that a bomb had actually gone off. He immediately switched focus away from himself, humbly.

"How many people died?" He asked.

They hadn't been watching the news, and they didn't know about the ongoing situation at the Woodland Park Zoo. All they knew was from what the doctors had told them and from what they'd seen at the fair.

"Um," Jenny answered. "We don't know the exact total, but I'd say a dozen or so."

He put his head back on the pillow.

"Did they say how long it'll be until I can leave?"

Caitlyn left the room to go get the doctor. She knew that they'd want to know he was awake so they could answer questions such as the one he just asked. She was trying to keep on top of things, after all.

The doctor that last spoke to them came in. His name was Dr. Williams, a short white man with a slight southern accent.

"Ah, Governor, you're awake," he said as he entered the room. "Are your injuries hurting at all?"

"Not much," he answered. His family could tell by the sound of his voice that he wanted to leave the hospital as soon as possible.

"Ok," the doctor took a look at the Governor's papers.

"How long will it be before I leave?" the Governor asked.

"Well, we'd like to monitor that leg wound, but if you keep pressure off of it then it shouldn't be any trouble. We can't force you to stay if you need to leave."

His family and he shared a glance. Jenny gave him a nod. He really shouldn't be leaving and the hospital shouldn't be letting him go just right after regaining consciousness, but they knew what the stakes were.

"Sir," Dr. Williams told him, "I have to insist if you leave that you use a wheelchair, or at least crutches."

He immediately fired back with his answer.

"No wheelchair; I'll take the crutches – doctor's orders."

The doctor left to get the crutches. Caitlyn went back standing next to her father.

"Are you sure you should be leaving, dad?"

"I need to. We just got attacked. People are looking for hope. If they see me get out of it and keep on going then it'll send a good message."

"I think you should do it." Jenny said. She grabbed her husband's hand.

**4:40 PM**

One of the roughly two dozen police officers standing outside the zoo ran up to Chief McNeil.

"Chief!" he shouted. "Sir, there's something you need to know."

Jack overheard this and walked over to them.

"What is it?" Chief answered.

"Sir, we've finished the sweep of all the buildings nearby. There's no sign of any snipers anywhere. We can look again, but I seriously doubt it."

"Don't bother," Chief replied. "I had a feeling we were being played."

Jack put in his two cents.

"Chief McNeil," Jack said. "If there are no snipers then we can move in to rescue them. We'll have to get them out quickly before the shooters have a chance to react."

The Chief waved a hand at one of his weapons specialists. The man ran over quickly with a briefcase. When he got over to them Chief took the case and opened it.

"Jack," he said, pulling out a canister from the case. "I can't put you on our direct assault team, but I know you want to help. This is teargas. We have it in case of emergencies such as this. If you can get this into the ventilation system on top of the building, then our men can sweep in."

"Good. Just give me the go-ahead." Jack took the canister and a walky-talky from the car they were next to. He ran around the side of the building trying not to be seen by the terrorists.

**4:42 PM**

Meanwhile, Theodore was calling them back using the phone from earlier. He was about to put out their plan to kill a hostage and run. Little did they know about Jack's plan.

Chief McNeil answered the phone. "Yes?"

"Chief McNeil," Theodore said. "I hope you're having a fantastic time here today, but the sunlight is running short and I'm afraid out little standoff must come to an end. You see, this is how things will happen. You're going to let us go, no following, no intercepting, or we'll kill every last hostage in the room."

Chief quickly put the phone down and got on the radio. "Jack!" he shouted. "Do it now! They're about to try and leave! We can't let them!"

Jack was almost above one of the air vents. He was able to climb on top of a fence and then on a dumpster in order to get on top of the building.

"And also," Theodore continued. "We're not lying. You might want to look inside right now."

Chief McNeil grabbed a pair of binoculars and looked into the building.

"Oh my God." He said to himself. "They've got a woman."

The woman was the one who was next to Jack, the one who had Henry's blood get near her.

Chief McNeil froze after the next thing that Theodore did. Jack stopped as well.

A single gunshot went off. All the Chief could see through the binoculars was a flash and the woman dropping face first onto the floor.

Chloe watched it all right in front of her. Most of the people in the room reacted, flinched, and help their eyes shut in horror. But Chloe, she just stared right on as Theodore pulled the trigger and shot the innocent woman right in the back of the head. Her body landed right in the pool of blood that had been sitting there ever since Henry died.

Screams filled the room, but Chloe remained silent. She was determined to stop these people now.

Jack got on his radio. "What just happened?" he asked.

"They just killed a woman." Chief McNeil replied.

All he could think of was Chloe. He hoped and prayed it wasn't her.

The only thing he could do now as take a deep breath, open the canister, and throw it next to the air vent. Jack ran off to try and escape the gas. "I used to gas!" he was able to shout into his radio.

Chief McNeil heard Jack and gave the signal for the team to move in.

They busted down the front glass doors and ran into opposite sides of the room. Not a single shot was fired until one of the terrorists that was running out the back door stopped to turn around. The policeman that first came into the room fired two shots, both which hit the terrorist, and killed him.

The other two got away.

"We've killed one shooter," Chief heard over his radio. "No sign of the other two. The hostages are safe."

It was right then that the hostages all got hit with the gas. They all started to run out coughing, sneezing, noses running, crying, and all other aspects associated with tear gas. It took a little longer to filter into the room than Jack expected.

By the time the people were running out, Jack was back near the police. He scanned the crowd of people until he found Chloe near the back. He ran over to her and hugged her before she noticed him.

"Chloe! You're safe now!" Jack was so happy to have her safe. That was his only goal there – to save her. Although she was still coughing, he could feel her try and hug him back. The snot ran down from her nose onto his shirt but he didn't care.

"Ja-… Jack. Thank you." She said. She was coughing between words and stuttered while saying it, but got the message out.

Media crew people from the local news were trying to make their way as close to the newly freed hostages as they could. The local anchorwoman, Melissa Kate, was there with her cameraman covering the scene.

Jack saw them and knew that he had to get himself and Chloe out of there before he ended up as a headline. The last thing he wanted was for people to find out he was still alive and out there. He risked it enough by telling Chief McNeil his real name.

The more pressing matter was that Theodore escaped. This entire ordeal was not over. More work was to be done.

**4:50 PM**

President Andrews and his staff, still watching CNB, saw the entire thing play out as the news repeated the footage of the hostages being freed. Jack Bauer could not be seen in any of the footage, so the President did not know it was him. All the media referred to was an "unidentified male hostage that had been freed and helped police rescue the hostages". That could be anybody. The President particularly was not worrying about minor details such as these.

His media spokeswoman came back in the Oval Office and handed him a few sheets of paper.

"Mr. President," she said. "I've told them you want to make a statement at the top of the hour and they're getting ready."

Almost immediately after she said this CNB News ran a ticker saying that the President was going to make a statement at 8:00 PM Eastern Time, 5:00 PM Pacific Time. He didn't show any outside reaction, but thought to himself, among the horrors of the day's events, that little things like telling somebody something could turn into newsflashes and that he had influence over it, made him chuckle. It really was a small world, especially in Washington, D.C.

**4:52 PM**

The Governor was up and walking with the crutches. He got permission to leave the hospital, but he had to have a doctor monitoring him for the next few days, and by "monitoring" they mean have one close by so as to be ready at a moment's notice.

Jenny was walking to his right and Caitlyn was walking to his left. As they walked out of the hospital there were other news crews waiting and when they saw him all cameras turned. Microphones from reporters were pushed towards him and local police were there trying to clear a path.

"Governor, what will you be doing after today's tragedy?" one reporter asked.

"Will you be making and statements, sir?" another asked.

It wasn't until five or six reporters down the line hammered him with questions until he stopped to listen to one in particular:

"Governor, do you believe the same people behind today's bombing were the same as behind the shooting at the zoo?"

He stopped moving. His bodyguards tried to get him to keep moving but he walked next to the young journalist lady.

"What did you say?" he asked her. This was the first he'd heard of any shooting.

"Do you believe the same people behind today's bombing were the same as behind the shooting at the Woodland Park Zoo?"

He stared right at her. He didn't know how to react.

"How many…" he tried to think of what to say. "How many were killed?"

"We don't know for sure, but it looks like about thirty were killed and another twenty or so were taken hostage."

He continued to look at her before turning away. The crowd was still trying to talk to him but all he could here was silence.

In a defiant move he threw down his crutched and limped a few steps. Jenny and Caitlyn had no idea what he was doing and grabbed him, steading his walk. The car was only a few yards in front of them. He stopped once again and turned to yell at the reporter.

"We will find out who did this! They will face the punishment! So help me, God!"

With that, he and his family got in the car and it started to drive off.

**4:55 PM**

Jack and Chloe were able to slip out unseen. There was no way Chloe could get back to her car, so all she had on her was her purse. Jack still had the revolver.

They had to work alone now to find the people who did this. Jack knew they escaped through the zoo and by now they could be anywhere. All they had for a lead was what Chloe told him she heard over the radio. Luckily, if they could get back to her house she still might be able to run her program and track them further.

Jack was still covered in blood from Henry. Chloe was covered in snot and water from the tear gas. She knew Jack send it through the ventilation, but again, it was one of those things about their friendship that she didn't even care.

Most of the streets were clear from any people. The campus of the University of Washington was only a few blocks away from them, and from what Jack could tell overhearing the police officers at the zoo, the campus had been evacuated. The whole city was about to be on lockdown, Jack figured. Just like in Boston after the Marathon Bombing. Seattle was scared to death of what was happening and they knew that it would only get worse if they didn't stop the men behind it.

**4:58 PM**

President Andrews was waiting to take the podium. All presidents eventually have to make the same sort of speech about a national tragedy. It's the one thing people subconsciously look for when electing their leader – a person they can look to for support and guidance in the face of tragedy; a person who knows the deal and can lead the country back on its feet.

President Andrews wasn't the best speech giver, but he was an excellent leader. When President Allison Taylor resigned, her VP ran for re-election and was beat by Senator Andrews by a pretty wide margin of 14% of the popular vote.

The media lady from the Oval Office took the podium and gave the usual remarks about the President only taking a few questions and that he'll be starting right at the change of the hour, not only two minutes away.

For him, this was his first national tragedy that he had to give a speech about. The country had seen relative peace over the last two years. Peace never lasts, but it's still always shocking when terrible things happen.

What doesn't kill us can only make us stronger.

**5:00 PM**

Thank you for reading this chapter! I apologize for being a week late, but college has kept me busy with finals week coming up after Thanksgiving. I hope you like it!


End file.
